Babysteps
by Claes Winterspell
Summary: Life starts with a few babystep, so do relationships. Watch as children grow into teens, face adolescence, and turn into adults...with a lot of speed bumps along the way. UxI
1. Chapter 1

**Title: Baby Steps**

**Author: Claes Winterspell**

**Rating: T**

**Status: Incomplete**

**Disclaimer: I don't own or profit from any of the characters; they are the sole ownership of Tite Kubo. And this is the last time I'm ever typing this for this story.**

**Chapter 1: **

According to statistics, the park is the most frequently visited and most populated place in the whole city. So, it is no wonder if two people- or children- would cross each other's paths several times and know each other.

This is not the case for Inoue Orihime, and that pretty eyed boy with a sad face. She's been going to the same- and only- park for so long that she has long since been acquainted with the people who go there. Except for the pretty eyed, sad faced boy.

It was the day that her brother left her in the park playground in a hurry- a first since he always stays a while to make sure that she is safe with her friends- that she noticed something peculiar about her surrounding. She had twirled round and round several times just to pinpoint the anomaly, but could not find it; it was when she tripped on her feet and fell down on the grass with a loud "oof!" that she finally noticed the pretty eyed, sad faced boy; he was peering at her like she had grown two antennae and sprouted four more legs…Had she? Orihime felt the top of her head and looked at her body. Nope, so why was he looking at her like that? The brown-orange-haired girl turned to him again. And they stared.

It was when Tatsuki called her and hauled her up that the funny looking boy turned his gaze away. He jumped off the bench he was sitting on then walked off.

Thoughts about the boy were pushed into a far, far corner of her mind as she played with her friends, and only returned when she and her brother were walking back to the house.

"Ah!" she had exclaimed out of the blue.

"What's the matter, Orihime?" her brother had asked, worry tinting his tone. "Did you forget something?"

"Mm-mm," she nodded her head. "I just forgot to ask the pretty-eyed, sad-faced boy his name." Then, she resumed skipping to their house, big brother in tow and wondering about what his little sister has just said. Probably a new addition to her story games.

**x.X.x**

The next time she came to the park, she had found out that Tatsuki had enrolled in Karate classes. Inoue beamed at her friend's mother in response then abruptly ran off. Too busy trying to keep her tears from falling, she had accidentally bumped into a person-a kid, like herself.

He had very funny orange hair and a weird (but cool-looking) scowl.

"Whoops," she mumbled, rubbing the spot where she hit her head as she sat sprawled on the grass. "Sorry. I wasn't looking when I was trying to do my dramatic exit."

"...Ha?" the orange boy asked, wondering what exactly was this girl talking about. "Anyway, you better get up from there. A girl shouldn't be sitting like that." He offered a tiny hand and she took it. He heaved her up with a quick inhale from his part and a tiny "upsie daisy" from her. And then he noticed her wet cheeks, the glossy texture shining in the daylight. "Whoa! Why are you crying? Did the fall hurt that much?"

"Eh?" Was her tiny reply, her head tilted slightly to the side. Hot, wet splashes dropped to her hand and she realized the sad truth; that she won't be able to play with Tatsuki anymore. Then the dam burst. To say things bluntly, Ichigo was very shocked- very, very shocked. He turned from side to side to look for any passersby, but to his dismay, they were in a pretty much secluded part of the park where trees surrounded them and nothing but the circle that is the wide clearing was there. She wailed louder and her tiny fists were rubbing her eyes viciously as she tried to say words through the sobs and hiccups.

"H-hey now," the now-not-so-scowling boy said, his arms flailing up and down in panic. "Don't cry! I bet things would turn out just fine."

He had said that just randomly out of desperation, but, amazingly, it worked. The tiny girl nodded her head and the wails subsided slightly- to Ichigo's great relief. Orangey was right, maybe tomorrow Tatsuki will come and say that a giant lizard accidentally stepped on the dojo and that she could not attend anymore. Maybe she'll bring caramel pudding with asparagus with her for them to eat. Maybe the giant lizard would eat with them, too. That comforted Orihime and she finally calmed down; she was only hiccupping mildly now.

Minutes later, Orihime and Ichigo were found sitting on a bench, and this time Ichigo made sure that they were in a place where a lot of people passed by just in case. Orihime had freshened up, and there were no more signs of the tear fall that happened earlier. But her eyes were still puffy, though.

"So," Ichigo started. Orihime looked up from her swinging legs that dangled from the bench. "What's with all the…crying? Earlier…"

"Oh, that." Orihime smiled. "I was just making a dramatic exit when I bumped into you. I found out my friend couldn't play with me anymore, you see, so I ran so that Auntie won't see me cry."

Ichigo's mouth formed an O shape and silence came back. Orihime went back to swinging her legs back and forth, back and forth; the orange-head stared in front of him. Was it just him or did he feel uncomfortable- like he needed to speak? But what should he say? Something about the latest Darbie doll? What _was_ the latest Darbie doll anyway- the soldier one or the nurse one? Ugh, he was never good with talking with girls; give him any guy to talk to he can do that- heck, he even became friends with that tomboy in Karate class!... What was her name again? Tarou? Sumisuki?

"Tatsuki-chan," Yes, yes! Tatsuki so that was the name. Huh? Ichigo turned to the girl beside him and noticed that she was beaming at some thing in front. He turned there…only to met by said tomboy. Then a flurry of movement and, suddenly, Inoue-san was there, clinging on the black-haired yellow-belt. What was happening now? Was she a tomboy now too?

"Kurosaki-kun! This is my friend, Tatsuki." Inoue introduced her, right after effectively dragging said friend in front of him. "Tatsuki-chan, this is Kurosaki-kun!"

"I already know him Hime-chan" Tatsuki said, pointing a finger to him, "He's the kid that couldn't even beat a girl in Karate."- she turns to him and says, "You skipped class today."

"H-hey, Mom says it's bad to point at people, and I so could beat up a girl!" Ichigo replied hotly, looking like a puffed-up cat with a wild blush from neck to hairline. "Oh, yeah! And I didn't skip class, I had a dentist appointment!"

"Sure you can, Kurosaki." Tatsuki crossed her arms, her smirk smug.

"W-well, anyway," Orihime piped in, trying to be the peace-maker. "I didn't know Tatsuki-chan knows Kurosaki-kun. Orihime is surprised!"

"Yeah, well, anyone would know about the boy who couldn't even ascend to yellow belt after three years in the dojo."

And so the chase began, Ichigo, furiously chasing, and Tasuki, laughing away.

**x.X.x**

The little raven-haired boy watched as the weird haired child desperately tried to catch the obviously faster girl who was laughing her head off. The orange-head was flushed red from another comment the girl said and his speed quickened once again- and the one could surmise that he'll slow down again after a few minutes into the chase. But it wasn't the two of them that he was watching; it was the girl from the other day with the inquisitive eyes. She had stared at him unabashedly and smiled at him as if they were immediate friends. But who would want to be friends with him? No one. Emerald eyes darkened at the memories that flashed, and at the words his "father" had uttered to him.

He could hear his voice now, saying to his ear with that same dark look, "Why would they want to be friends with you? You who committed a crime, who killed-" No! He would not let his father take over his thoughts. He looked back to the two children chasing each other and noticed belatedly that one orange-brown-haired one was missing.

"Hey, what's your name?"

His widened eyes turned to the girl to his right and he took a sharp intake of breathe from his ever so slightly parted mouth. Teleportation? Her head was tilted to the side and her bright eyes were just as wide as his. She was the image of relaxed curiosity, while he was the sight of suppressed shock.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, her brows furrowing slightly, "You don't look that good. Want me to get a grown-up?"

He shook his head and calmly replied, "I am fine. What is your name?" Never mind that she just asked the same question just a few moments ago.

She perked up, her smile flashing. "My name's Orihime! I'm a princess!" She looked so proud of her name, that he stopped himself from rolling his eyes at her latter statement.

"What's yours?"

He regarded her for a while, as if his name was such a secret never to be divulged. She continued to smile expectantly at him, despite the stare she was getting.

"Ulquiorra Schiffer."

"Oh, so Yuckysoya-kun, why do you look so sad?"

**x.X.x**

A.N.: Yes, I am starting a new UlquiHime story after only two chapters of my other one...which I haven't update in two months...hmm... Well, I've got more of an idea as to what happens in this story so, yeah, here we go.

Oh yeah, the Bleach cast's average age here is about 7.somethingblahblah so dont' think that they're acting so immature. Oh! and when I man "Bleach Cast" I mean the the one's in this chapter. Good luck guessing their ages. x) More importantly, People might ask why Children love? Well, one reason is I find children puppy love to be very cute and endearing so sue me xP. joke! Im too young to be sued! Dx and the other reason is that I've been having these weird (but fun) images of how they would look so cute playing in a park while they were about in ages 10 below. :D Don't worry they'll grow up in future chapters; I'm not having any children kissing lips on lips...ew...mental image... But I wouldn't mind seeing Orihime kissing Ulquiorra on the cheeks! _That_ is cute!

Well, enough about pointless ramblings, like your everyday stereotype writer in , Review please! Constructive Critisicm a.k.a. Flames are very welcome- just be specific about what you're complaining about. Thanks for bothering to click the link to this story. Stick with me 'til the end, will you?

-Claes Winterspell - one who has chocolate cake for her readers who review x3


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Babysteps

**Title: Baby steps**

**Author: Claes Winterspell**

**Rating: K+ (at the moment)**

**Status: Incomplete**

**Summary: Life starts with a few baby steps, so do relationships. Watch as children grow into teens, face adolescence, and turn into adults...with a lot of speed bumps along the way. UxI**

**Chapter 2:**

Ever since that fateful day wherein Ulquiorra met Orihime, they- meaning Ulquiorra, Orihime, Tatsuki and Ichigo- have been stuck hip on hip; figuratively on some days and literally on most. You see, our orange-haired heroine has taken three legged races as her favorite game lately; only, her vision of said race includes chewing gum, pails, a hose, and roses- without the thorns, her onii-chan has made sure of that.

"Okay," Orihime brightly chirped beside a struggling Ichigo. "Let the race begin after Onii-chan sounds the honk!"

"Wait," Tatsuki said her hand raised half-way. "So… Let me get this right first. We're doing a three legged race while chewing gum, a rose in our mouths, and pails for our third 'leg'." Here, the dark-haired girl paused o check if she got the rules correctly; Orihime nodded eagerly, orange hair whipping Ichigo on the face.

"No," she corrected, tone that of an adult trying to teach a toddler to correctly say "mommy". "At the start of the race we run to the sandbox while chewing gum. We look for the roses there and have to get one each and bring it along using our mouth, but! We have to keep chewing the gum. Then we continue to run throughout the whole playground until we cross the hose! Then the winner group fills their pale-slash-third leg using the hose and has to wet the loser group as punishment!"

The other three merely stared at her as if she had broccoli stuck in her teeth, but that wasn't possible since Orihime detests said vegetable. As they continued to look at the orange-haired girl in front/beside them, inwardly, the little girl, Orihime, chuckled deviously at her ingenious plans. No one could beat her group; she created the game after all!

"Let's just start." Ichigo said after a while, his scowl more intense than usual- probably because Orihime was his partner-, arms crossed over his chest. "I wanna get this thing over with."

"Of course," Orihime exclaimed with much spirit. Then turning to her brother, "Nii-chan! We wanta race now."

The raven-haired man nodded to his sister, and started to count down.

"Five."

The children took their positions.

"Four."

Eyes dart from their teammate to the enemy to the course then back.

"Three."

Tatsuki's foot slides an inch back in anticipation for flight.

"Two."

Ulquiorra's bubble bursts, and creates a loud pop.

"One!"

And off the four children went, speeding as fast as humanely possible with a pail for a third leg, and another person stuck to the leg stuck inside said pail.

**X.x.X**

The sun was setting and creating beautiful orange, lavender and blue hues on the sky. The passers by of the park and those who came there to relax gazed upon the calming atmosphere and reveled at its beauty, hearts at peace with the scenery.

That was not the case, however, with our little protagonists; they all lay on the grass, panting- yes, even young and stoic Ulquiorra was gasping for precious air. It seems Orihime had over done the preparations for the race; no one seems to have won, and, evidently, no one was drenched in water. The four children, still tied by the legs and pail still intact, were drenched in perspiration and even the cool upcoming evening breeze might be able to cool them down.

It would be quite hard to type the intervals in which gasps were taken, so I would just represent each intake of breath with a dash, as to save time and space.

"Ori-hi-ime-" Tatsuki spoke, one side of her face pressed against the cool grass. "That- will- be the- la-ast- tah-ime we- are ever- ever! Let-ting- eyoo-uu chu-oose the- games!"

Beside her, Oirhime felt the other orange-haired child sluggishly nod in approval. Realizing she had no help there, she turned towards Ulquiorra who lay just behind her. She rolled to her other side, with much effort, and turned her pleading, almost pouting looking eyes at the pretty-eyed boy; royal emerald eyes peeped from their hiding place behind eyelids in response; Orihime's grey orbs intensified in cuteness and pleading sparkles.

Ulquiorra's eyes closed, to Orihime's dismay, and the boy let out a soft inaudible sigh.

"Perhaps Orihime-san could choose a few more games," he proposed, and the little girl beside him squealed in pure glee, but immediately her immense excitement decreased by his added statement. "Supervised, of course."

Oh well, at least she still gets to choose the games...some of them anyway.

**X.x.X**

"Really, had I known you would get _this_ wet from that race of yours, I would have brought spare shirts!" Sora, after much surprise at the sight of the muddy, sandy and evidently drenched (with perspiration) appearances of the four children, exclaimed.

Orihime laughed, Tatsuki grinned, Ichigo hurumphed, and the Stoic boy remained…well, stoic in response. Sora shook his head slowly at them in silent reprimand then led them to their house, the nearest place wherein they can clean up; he'll have to explain a lot to their mothers later on.

**X.x.X**

A lot of scrubbing later, the four children was clean as a fiddle and sat at the living room watching Chappy the Rabbit- Orihime's favorite show- on T.V. Sora then proceeded to call each of their mothers, explaining to them that he had taken their child for cleaning up since they ran the possibility of catching cold in their past state. He had just finished to Ichigo's father, when a tiny tug led the man's attention to a tiny hand clasping his shirt. It was pale- almost grey; it belongs to the Schiffer kid.

"What is it?" Sora asked as amiably as he could; criticize him if you must, but the omnipresent slight frown the kid wore and the never present expressions supposedly found on a child his age creeped him out. "Is something the matter?"

The green-eyed boy remained silent for a while, eyes focused on the older raven-haired man, before finally giving an answer. "It is unnecessary to call my…guardian."

And with that statement, the little boy calmly walked away, headed to the living room. Sora merely stared.

**X.x.X**

"Where'd you run off to?" Tatsuki asked as Ulquiorra sat down on the seat beside her and Orihime. The boy spared her a glance before turning his eyes back to the television; offended at being ignored, Tatsuki was about to call back his attention in a not so polite way, when suddenly he spoke, "I went to inform Sora-san about how unnecessary it is to call my…guardian."

"Whatever." The seven year-old turned back to the pointless show that Hime-chan chose.

"Why is it not needed to call your mama?" asked voice from the other side of Ulquiorra after the show had ended, and for a moment, the boy had no idea what Orihime was talking about.

"Because it is," was his simple reply, eyes focused on the next show, which, in truth, didn't really appeal to the ten year-old; Orihime noticed that tone- it was that tone that Sora-nii-chan used when he didn't want to talk about something- and decided not to pry. It's bad to pry after all.

Orihime focused back on the show, and unknown to her, seemingly unemotional eyes flickered towards her direction some minutes in to the show.

**X.x.X**

An hour or two later, the mother of Tatsuki and the father of Ichigo came to pick them up; Orihime along with Ulquiorra escorted them towards the exit and waved (this Orihime did bye herself; Ulquiorra stood watching) them goodbye.

"Ulquiorra-kun," Sora later said, mixing bowl on one hand and spatula on the other, peering into the living room where the two children sat watching television again. "It's getting late, are you sure you don't need to contact your parents?"

The sad-eyed boy turned to him and replied, "They have granted me permission to sleep over." Sora's hand stopped stirring the mixture for a long while as the little boy turned back to the T.V. and pointed something out to Orihime that mad her giggle.

Sora didn't notice the slight smirk on Ulquiorra's lips, despite his blatant surprised stare.

**X.x.X**

**A/N: So, here's chapter two! I decided not to hide their ages in the end...So Ulquiorra's ten; Orihime, Tatsuki and Ichigo are seven year-old. Oh, and Sora's about twenty-two here- if my math skills aren't deceiving me. **

**There's not really much to talk about so yeah. That is al. Comments anyone? I'll give out the cookie recipe my group is gonna use for H.E. if you do. xD**

**Stick with me 'til the end, will you?**

**-Claes Winterspell- the all powerful author of this story; fear my evil cackle**


	3. Chapter 3

**Title: Baby steps**

**Author: Claes Winterspell**

**Rating: K+ (at the moment)**

**Status: Incomplete**

**Summary: Life starts with a few baby steps, so do relationships. Watch as children grow into teens, face adolescence, and turn into adults...with a lot of speed bumps along the way. UxI**

**Chapter 3:**

Red, twitching eyes focus on the small stoic boy unblinkingly. Sora had been constantly coming home from work late, tired and hungry for the past three months and had been only having four hours of sleep each day before heading to work the next morning. So it is to his absolute happiness that he was given a day off by his usually strict, work-a-holic boss. The dark-haired man had woken up later than usual, cooked breakfast longer than usual and ate said breakfast longer than usual, savoring its every flavor. He waited for his younger sister to wake up and tended to her more than he usually does and they spent the whole day playing together...at least, that was his plan until he remembered a certain pale creepy boy.

The dark-haired man was quietly sipping his morning coffee when Orihime's giggles reached him; at the sound Sora couldn't help but smile.

"Onii-chan," his little sister exclaimed. "Good morning! Can Ulquiorra and me have some cereal with lemon juice and yogurt?"

Ulquiorra's eye twitched slightly.

Sora's stomache felt queasy.

"Aa, Hime-chan," he started. "Perhaps some pancakes would be better? I've already prepared them, you see."

Despite the show of a quick (cute) disappointed pout, Orihime approved of the change in menu and sat down beside him, little creepy boy in tow. As the children talked, Sora finished his cup of coffee, got up and fixed their breakfast.

"Uki-kun, when is your mama coming to pick you up," Orihime asked as they waited for the pancakes.

"She's not coming," was his reply. "I am to walk home after breakfast."

Orihime sadly replied with an "oh." That is too quick for her liking.

They remain silent.

"Ne, Uki-kun, can't you play a bit before you leave?" the little girl asked after a while with big sparkling gray orbs. She was using the cute tactic; whether intentionally or not Ulquiorra doesn't know but regardless, his answer will remain unchanged. The green-eyed boy sighed before answering.

"Very well."

Orihime squealed in happiness. She clapped her little hands and her legs swung in a more lively way than before. The plates let out soft clinks after touching the wooden table as Sora placed them in front of the children. "Dig in."

The two thanked him for the meal and took their utensils. Little Orihime got strawberry jam and placed some on Ulquiorra's pancakes and then hers. He did not complain. Next, the orange-brown-haired girl asked her brother to pass the bottle to his right, he acquiesced to her request without question and she happily squirted the red insides of the bottle. Then a thought lit up in his head; red bottle? Could that be...

"Uh, Hime-chan, what is that," he asked, pointing to the red bottle he had just passed. His imouto looked from him to the bottle and showed him a confused expression.

"It's ketchup," she slowly replied as if he was the odd one for not knowing.

"Ah, I see, ketchup," Sora laughed uncomfortably as his stomach clenched as he imagined the taste of Orihime's pancake.

"Would you like some too, Uki-kun?" Sora looked wide-eyed at the boy. He had not protested when she had put strawberry jam, will he also allow her to put ketchup? The older man was nervous for the boy but to his intense relief Ulquiorra shook his head to the negative. At least there's some normality to the boy.

"The jam is sufficiently adding taste to the pancake."

"OKay!"

Sora nodded approvingly at his answer..until the hidden meaning struck him. Adding taste to the pancake, he said, adding taste. Did he mean his cooking was bland?!

The little boy felt a prickling feeling, as if someone was watching him intently, to his right and sure enough, Orihime's older brother, while leaning his face against his propped up hand, was facing him with a very odd, constipated-looking expression. Could it be a smile? His eyebrow was twitching erratically so perhaps he **is** having stomach problems.

"Sora-san, are you suffering from difficulties with bowel movements," Ulquiorra- with no ill-intention at all- asked. Sora was momentarily stunned by the completely absurd statement but managed to smile and answer.

"Of course not, Ulquiorra-kun," the corners of his lips twitched along his eyebrow as he laughed. "Now, eat up, young man, so that you'll grow up big and strong. Ah! Excuse me, you two, I forgot that... thing! Yes, I'll be right back. That thing. Ahahaha."

Orihime with red and pink blotches surrounding her mouth watched as her brother got up and left the kitchen. After swallowing her strawberry-ketchup pancake the grey-eyed girl stabbed another piece before turning to her companion. "I wonder what Onii-chan forgot. Do you know, Ulquiorra-kun?"

"Perhaps his medication," Sora heard him answer.

To put it simply, Sora's outlook on the pale child had gone downhill from then on.

**X.x.X**

After breakfast, Orihime and Ulquiorra headed to her room to play. The entire time the bright-eyed girl showed the dark-haired boy her toys and explained what they would play, Sora would pass by seemingly nonchalantly her open door in order to keep an eye on his precious princess from being corrupted by the creepy kid, of course in a way that none of the two would suspect. Of course, Ulquiorra noticed. Really, the boy thought, one would question if Orihime's brother really is a grown-up. He chose to ignore him.

Instead of filling his head with thoughts of minor characters, the ten year old remembered the night before. He had committed his first selfish act, nevermind that his mother had given her express consent and was over-joyed that her son actually had friends. He had not asked permission from his father, who, at that time, was not home and therefore out of contact. Father is a stict man and Ulquiorra was bothered by his not being able to ask him.

"Uki-kun, you don't force feed the princess," Orihime suddenly exclaimed, her widened eyes focused on the princessDarbie being poked harshly in the mouth by a plastic spoon in Ulquiorra's hand. Gently taking the poor mistreated doll from the boy who doesn't know how to treat a poor imprisoned princess, the seven year old gently speaks to the doll and tells her she would get shrinky and dried-up if she would not eat her food and that her prince won't like her anymore if she's like that. Hearing those words, the princessDarbie reluctantly yields and allows the young Inoue to give her sustenance. "See, that's how you treat a hostaged princess, Uki-kun." Turning back to the doll she getly says, "Don't worry, Prince Pickled Strawberry Parfait-kun will definitely come and defeat the monster magician! Right, Uki-kun?"

"Ngh."

**X.x.X**

"Onii-chan! Uki-kun says he's gonna leave now," Orihime, with said boy who wants to leave in tow, approached her brother in the kitchen. Though she is not entirely happy with her friend leaving, the orange-brown haired girl was not entirely sad either; one could say she is content and after all, Ulquiorra was supposed to leave earlier but instead took the time to play with her for a few hours more.

"Oh? I see," the twenty-or-so man smiled at the thought of the pale boy's departure; now he can have Orihime all to himself. "Well then I'll go get your things while you say bye bye to Hime-chan."

"That is unnecessary."

"Uki-kun packed up his things!"

With a hidden laugh in his mind, Sora smiled wider and said, "I see well then I'll see you to the door. Hime-chan you can stay here and guard the batter."

"EH?! But I wanta go too," she exclaimed with a growing pout and very creased eyebrows. Her onii-chan sighed and relented. And so the three headed for the door together.

Ulquiorra adjuted his shoelaces and checked his belongings while Orihime unnecessarily fiddled with his clothing, tugging on his collar and dusting off his shorts. Sora stood still with thoughts demanding what he's making his sweet Hime-chan do. With all that over with, Ulquiorra and Orihime said their good byes (while Sora nodded his head in farewell).

A few steps later Orihime suddenly remembered the small package in her hands and stopped her friens by crying out stop. Things happened in a flash, the ten year old turned to ask why she called out his name, she, while hurriedly running to him, tripped on thin air and the package flew high up in the sky for the first time as the little orange-brown haired girl fell on the dark-haired boy. They both fell on the hard ground and so did the package of Boreo cookies after a five second intermission.

Sora, seeing this, immediately hurried to the two children. With a lot of concern in his voice he said this, "Are you alright? Hime-chan did you hurt yourself? Ulquiorra-"

But his frantic question was cut off by the sight of his precious sister on top of the pale boy and his arms around her. What shocked his senses the most, though, was his sisters lips on his forehead. Sora promptly fainted.

**X.x.X**

A/N: Hi! I'm back. I won't make excuses and I will hush. I will apologize for the delay, though. Yes, yes, that is what I will do. Really, very trully sorry, readers. I'd like to thank you for your feedback and I am really inspired to write by them; my chest always expands enormously everytime I read them. The future chapters, hopefully, will be posted before my vacation ends.

About this chapter and Sora; I'm really sorry if I bombed his character. I know very little about him except for his incredibly wonderful role as a brother.

One more thing, I re-read the past chapters to see how I wrote the story and was appaled by my intensely numerous errors. Readers, forgive me for that as well. I have no beta or anyone who edits my work except for me so please let it pass. I'll find time to fix the errors. Oh! And there are errors here too! Please ignore them! Thank you for your support. Seriously. Oh, and feedback, please? =D

Stick with me 'til the end, will you?

-Claes Winterspell- one who has been missing for ages**  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: Babysteps**

**Author: Claes Winterspell**

**Rating: K+**

**Status: Incomplete**

**Summary: Life starts with a few baby steps, so do relationships. Watch as children grow into teens, face adolescence, and turn into adults...with a lot of speed bumps along the way. UxI **

**Chapter 4:**

A small black-haired girl happily walked down the pavement on the way to her house. It had been a great day at the dojo and Tatsuki had risen up to a yellow belt, much to Kurosaki's jealousy.

The seven year old snickered to herself at the thought of the rapid change of emotions in the orange-head's face; his eyes had grown wide as saucers at first then they changed into slits in a matter of seconds. Just to vex him some more, Tatsuki approached the boy and asked him how long has he been in the dojo and what belt color does he have now. Kurosaki, after grinding his teeth for as long as he could and glaring with all his might at her, succumbed to his rage and started chasing her after hearing a side comment from another kid named Ishida. She laughed the whole time; he was so easy to bait.

"I wonder what Hime-chan's doing now," she wondered out loud.

Tatsuki noticed a small crowd forming and noticed it was in front of her Hime-chan's apartment building. Coincidence? The little girl ran to said crowd and pushed her way in.

Once at the inner circle, the seven year old's eyes widened in surprise. _What in the world is Hime-chan's onii-chan doing sleeping on the floor?_

"Ah, Tatsuki-chan," she heard her friend's voice exclaim.

"Arisawa-san."

"Eh? Ulquiorra. What are _you _doing here," she asked, pointing from the unconscious man lying on the ground, to said unconscious man's sister then to him.

"Move aside kids, we'll move Sora-san inside," another man, the landlord, Tatsuki remembered, said before the stoic ten year old could answer. The children watched as three other men, all comically heavily built, joined the old lanky landlord and hauled Hime-chan's onii-chan. The crowd slowly dispersed as the need for a murmuring crowd was no longer there. The children followed the men inside.

**X.x.X  
**

Once the men have settled Sora down on the sofa the landlord stayed a while to serve them drinks. He had reassured the (calm) children that Orihime's brother would be fine and he would wake up anytime soon.

"That landlord of yours sure is kind," the karate student pointed out once the old man had closed the door.

"Yup," exclaimed Orihime with a popping sound in the end.

"So, care to-" at the sight of a small trail of blood on her friends forehead Tatsuki changed what she was about to say with an exclamation of, "You're bleeding!" accompanied by a point of a finger.

Following the direction of her friend's finger, Orihime gasped at the small trail of blood that started from the middle of his forehead to the bridge of his nose. They all wondered how no one noticed this at all.

"Well, I think we better clean that up first," Tatsuki said, already in the bathroom looking for alcohol.

"Uki-kun, how did you get that," asked Orihime as the ten year old tried wiping the blood with his sleeve.

Most of you would wonder as well as to how this unfortunate gash on such an adorable character came to be. You see, if we turn back to the past chapter in a normal perspective Orihime was, in fact, not kissing Ulquiorra on the forehead. When the little girl fell on her friend the force was so great that they had ended up bumping heads, except it was Orihime's front teeth that collided with Ulquiorra and not her forehead, leaving a small cut. If you would zoom closer to the poor boy's forehead you could still see faint teeth marks on his pale skin.

An incident too embarrassing to share, Ulquiorra carefully answered the best he could.

"Hn."

"Ah! I see," Orihime exlcaimed brightly much to the boy's dismay. Had she realized what really happened? But thankfully, Orihime's next words were nothing to be considered as pride-threatening. "That's wrong, Uki-kun. Cutters shouldn't cut there! You should cut somewhere around here, you see," said she as she held his arm.

**X.x.X**

"So let me get this straight," Tatsuki sat with her two friends in a loose circle, speaking with a very perplexed expression. "You're telling me that you're onii-chan was racing in a hurdles race but tripped on a hurdle when he saw you falling in the sprint race?"

"Yup."

"And Ulquiorra was in the sprints, too..."

"Uh-huh!"

Moment of silence.

"Right," the dark-haired girl turned to Ulquiorra, the more sensible, realistic and normal one. "So, what happened?"

After staring for a long while the green-eyed boy answered, "When Orihime-san tripped I caught her and we both fell down due to the loss of balance. Sora-san saw our fall and ran to us but he caught sight of something...extremely shocking to his senses resulting in his losing of consciousness."

"Maybe Nii-chan saw his super-idol, Don Kannonji," the brown-orange-head quipped. Her two friends promptly stared at her in perplexity- one very obviously, the other seemingly just staring. Their staring would have lasted longer if not for the sudden cry of one regaining consciousness at the back.

"Who-"

"**HIME!!**"

"Here," replied said girl in a chirp with a raised hand.

**X.x.X**

Once he had awaken the first thing Sora did was grab her sister from the clutches of the Enemy- he had planned to hiss and claw about but that would just be silly, he thought. The second thing he did was ban poor Ulquiorra from seeing his sister.

"Then we'll just play pin the tail on the donkey," the Arisawa kid deadpan as his sister frowned at him.

"Nii-chan, it was Hime's fault she tripped. Uki-kun did nothing wrong."

Ulquiorra was wise enough to not say anything.

Unable to resist his sister's teary-eyed and pouting look (and suddenly remembering his age), the dark-haired man relented and slowly cooled down. Cue in cheering from Orihime, eye-roll from Tatsuki and microscopic change in features from Ulquiorra.

The moment lasted for about a minute or so when, suddenly, a certain orange-head came bursting through the doors.

"Kurosaki," the karate-girl exclaimed.

"What happened to Sora-nii," was supposed to be his question until he caught sight of said guy standing with his friends and so he changed his inquiry into, "Aren't you supposed to be knocked-out?"

A beat passed and the boy realized he didn't really care anymore and so popped out a new question, "Wanna go play at the park?"

"I wanna!"

"Sure."

"Very well."

**X.x.X**

Snickers could be heard from atop a tree. Ichigo was now the It and a certain orange-brown-haired girl found her perfect hiding spot on a branch of a tree. A very tall tree. And how she managed to climb such a high tree in a dress and flip-flops was a mystery.

At the sound of crunching leaves and footsteps the little girl hushed herself and covered her grin with her hands. She spotted Ichi-kun's mop of orange hair pass under her tree and approach Tatsuki's hiding place.

"Aha," she heard the orange-head cry a few minutes later. "Found you!"

"Yeah, yeah," came her other friend's relaxed answer- Orihime imagined her dark-haired friend crossing her arms as she came out of her hiding spot, which was the usual cave under the slides. "I made it easy for you just so you can be proud you actually found one of us. You know, since you won't find Hime-chan and Ulquiorra."

The other child merely ground his teeth together and resisted the bait. _I'll find them_, he thought to himself as he glared daggers at the arrogant monkey of a tomboy who calls herself a girl, _we'll see how you react to that. Ha._

Ichigo bet to himself he would find the remaining two in no time and laughed as he imagined Tatsuki looking around helplessly for him when she turns It. Said girl just raised a brow at the weirdo laughing to himself. She let out a sigh; _boys._

After a while, Ichigo continued his search and Tatsuki leisurely followed him with her arms crossed behind her head. The orange-head looked carefully around, careful to not miss any slight movement. And then, he found what he was looking for; a small movement behind a tree. A shoe quickly hiding itself into obscurity. The boy grinned to himself.

Ichigo, as with as much nonchalance he could procure, strolled towards the path closest to the tree whoever-that-was hiding behind.

But then three things, which include a girl on a tree, said tree's branch and a squirrel, happened simultaneously.

Orihime, still on top of her branch, watched as Ichigo neared Uki-kun's hiding place and moved too far from the trunk resulting into the wobbling of the branch and her struggling to find her balance in such a precarious position. Just then, an unsuspecting and totally innocent squirrel jumped into the girls view and frightened her into leaning too much to the right, effectively throwing her off the branch.

Ichigo groaned at the sudden add of weight on his back and struggled to breathe around the grass that managed to shove its way up his nose and inside his mouth. The seven-year-old new instantly that tomorrow he would _not_ feel great at all. Even right now he didn't.

"Owieeee," the girl on top of him whimpered.

"Hime-chan, I think you should get off of him."

As if just realizing that she had not been lying on grass, said girl sprang up, apologizing to her friend repetitively. "Are you sure you're fine, Ichi-kun?"

"Yeah, yeah."_No, not really._

Then she gasped and and pointed to her friends newly acquired gash. Ichigo didn't really feel anything until it was pointed out. Delayed reaction. _Ow!_ A whimper.

"We'd better get that cleaned," Tatsuki pointed out. "Hey, Hime-chan, where's Sora-nii?"

The orange-brown-haired girl looked about but couldn't find her brother. "I don't know. Maybe he went to get some turnips and butter for snack time."

The other three children took a moment to react to their friend's idea of a snack.

"Perhaps we could use the fountain's water and this handkerchief instead," came Ulquiorra's suggestion as he held out a piece of folded red cloth. And so, to the fountain they went.

Tatsuki took the now damp hankie from the older boy and started dabbing at Orangey's knee and judging from the boy's on and off grimace she was not gentle. When the wound was clean the children were at a loss of what to do next. Should they let it be? But didn't grown-ups always put plaster-aids after? Where wold they get that?

Orihime thought hard of what her brother would do at times like these and an idea came to mind.

And before anyone had enough time to react the little girl shouted, "I got it!" and bent down to kiss Ichigo's wounded knee.

**X.x.X**

**A/N: O.O I'm sorry? Please accept this longer-than-usual chapter as a token of apology for my insincerity....Gah. Procrastination is one of the worst things a person can develope. Oh and lying is one of the worst sins a person could commit. So, kids, do not follow my horrible example.**

**On a brighter note...my love for Ulquiorra is flourishing like mad. His end, man! So ironic! So unforgetable! Like, Wow! /hail Tite Kubo**

**Crackers, anyone?  
**

**-Claes Winterspell  
**


End file.
